Inducing Salt Tolerance in Purple Guinea Grass (Panicum maximum TD58) via Gamma Irradiation and Tissue Culture

Abstract

The seeds of Panicum maximum TD58 were cultured on MS medium supplemented with 15% coconut water, 5 mg/l kinetin and 100 mg/l casein hydrolysate to induce multiple shoots. The gamma irradiated shoots grown in 0–2.0 % NaCl gave 58 clones of purple guinea grass. All clones were transferred to grow in the natural field. Ten clones of grass with good morphological properties were selected and subsequently grown in the salt stress environment at Maha Sarakham province, Northeastern Thailand. Under salt stress condition, seven out of ten selected clones showed salt tolerant trait. However, there was no difference in AFLP fingerprinting patterns found as compared with the controlled non-irradiated guinea grass. The salt tolerance character might be due to the mutation at a certain location or on a specific gene which could not be distinctly detected by the available AFLP primers.